


It's All About The Frosting

by mseg_21



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Bev's POV, Christmas Cookies, Christmas fic, Flirting, Fluff, M/M, Reddie, Secret Santa 2018, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 15:17:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17144171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mseg_21/pseuds/mseg_21
Summary: When Bev dragged Richie along with her to a baking class, she didn't expect that he would meet Eddie and go completely crazy for him. Now that he did, she just wishes he would do something about it.





	It's All About The Frosting

**Author's Note:**

> A secret santa gift for [daydreamiing-reality](https://daydreamiing-reality.tumblr.com/) on tumblr. I hope you like it, merry Christmas!

“Richie you’re doing it again.” Bev groaned, throwing a cookie cutter at her best friend, trying to get his attention. He was staring intently at the table next to their own, completely ignoring the fact that he was supposed to be sifting flour into a bowl.

“What?”

“You’re staring at him again.” She said, rolling her eyes. Richie’s head whipped around to stare at her. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

Bev snorted, going back to her own task, creaming butter and sugar together in the mixer now that Richie had stopped drooling over Eddie, the guy on their baking class that Richie had been crushing on for six weeks. 

It had been Beverly who had dragged Richie along with her after she had seen a flyer around campus, advertising the class. She had always wanted to learn how to bake and this was as good an opportunity as any. Richie agreed only because he was promised free food. Bev failed to mention that the free food would be whatever the two of them managed to bake that day and Richie had been quite disappointed when they burned their apple pie during their first class and he was sent home with an empty stomach and the smell of smoke stuck to his clothes. He would’ve stopped showing up after that first day if that didn’t mean he wouldn’t see Eddie anymore. 

He had noticed Eddie the moment he stepped into the class and had spent most of time staring at him (Beverly suspected that had something to do with their burned apple pie) and afterwards he couldn’t keep the boy out of his mind. 

Neither could Bev with how much Richie talked about him. She didn’t understand how Richie could talk  _ so much  _ about someone he had seen one time and whose name he didn’t even know, but he managed to do it. 

A couple of days later, during their second class Richie almost went into cardiac arrest when Eddie had asked to borrow their whisk. The exchange lasted only two minutes but Richie didn’t stop talking about the way Eddie had smiled at him or the fact that their fingers brushed when Richie handed over the instrument for hours after the class had ended. 

The following week, he learned that his name was Eddie, that his friend’s name was Mike, that Mike probably knew more about baking than the teacher herself and that he, Richie was thrilled to find out, had a boyfriend called Stan that he loved very much, meaning him and Eddie weren’t together. All of this he learned by listening in on their conversation while he washed their materials in the sink next to their table. 

Over the next few weeks, Richie exchanged a total of five sentences with Eddie, mostly over borrowed cooking implements or tips on some of the recipes. Richie refused to talk to him outside of class, worried that once his mouth started running he wouldn’t be able to stop and he would end up asking Eddie to marry him and scaring the poor boy away. Bev had seen it happen one time (granted Richie was drunk at the moment) and she had almost died of secondhand embarrassment.

Now it was their last class as the holidays drew near. They were baking Christmas cookies and would be decorating them afterwards, as long as Richie paid attention to what he was doing instead of drooling over the way Eddie stuck his tongue out while measuring ingredients- “It’s adorable Bev, look at him”, Richie would say every time Bev caught him staring.

Today it seemed he was trying to imprint the image of Eddie into his eyelids for posterity with how intently he was staring at him.

Speaking of which, he was doing it again. 

“I swear to God Richie if my cookies are ruined because you’re too busy pining over Eddie, I’ll kill you.”

Richie shushed her, nervously glancing at Eddie. “Shut up. I’m not pining, I’m just committing his cute little face to memory, okay?”

“Unless you want me to force feed you raw cookie dough and give you  _ Salmonella _ , you better stop and mix those dry ingredients.” 

“You have a set of knives and that’s how you decide to threaten me? That’s lame Marsh.” Richie joked but Bev only narrowed her eyes at him, menacingly and he sighed going back to baking and keeping the staring to a minimum. 

Beverly felt bad for her friend, he really seemed to like Eddie and she knew he was going to be miserable after the classes were over when the probability of seeing him again would be reduced to  _ zero _ , but there wasn’t a lot she could do. She had tried to get Richie to talk to him, lying about forgetting her wooden spoon and stating that she needed the one Eddie and Mike had brought specifically or asking him to weight ingredients at the same time that Eddie was using the scale. Richie would do those things but would he was careful to keep their interactions short and quick. 

It frustrated Beverly because from what she had seen, Eddie seemed to like Richie too. He would always smile at him on their way in, he laughed at his dumb jokes, stared amusedly at him whenever he did something that ended up with Richie being covered in whatever ingredient he had in his hands, which happened more often than not. Beverly had even caught him staring at Richie a couple of times, and when he noticed he had been caught he would blush and go back to his own cooking. But even knowing all of this, he couldn’t exactly ask Eddie out for Richie (she had made the suggestion but Richie had refused and threaten to smash the pie they had just decorated in her face if she did) and her stubborn best friend refused to do it himself. The thing was, Beverly was quite stubborn herself and she refused not to do anything. 

She was still trying to come up with an idea when Richie gave her a bowl with flour, baking soda and baking powder.

“Alright, dry ingredients are sifted and ready.” 

Bev smiled, even if Richie would sometimes get distracted and if they had ruined more recipes than they did right, she was glad she had dragged him along with her. “Great, I’ll add the eggs and then we can mixed all of it together.”

“Aye, aye capt’n.” 

Once all the ingredients were blended properly they had to refrigerate the dough for an hour, during which they would prepare the frosting they would use to decorate them.

“Alright everyone, for this part you and your partner will want to pair up with another team. That way you will have more frosting to decorate with and you can get creative with the colors.” Their teacher, Clara said. 

Beverly and Richie turned to look at each other. Bev’s eyes were shining with excitement while Richie’s eyes were panicked. They both knew what the other was thinking. 

“Beverly don’t you dare-”

But Bev was already rushing to the table where Eddie and Mike were tidying up their materials. Richie followed her but she made it to the table before he could stop her. 

She slipped on a puddle on the floor and had to grab the edge of the table so that she didn’t fall to the floor, startling the two boys into silence.

“Hi.” Bev said, offering a big smile that probably made her look like a crazy person. She felt Richie collide against her back after stepping on the same puddle she did and stumbling forward. 

Mike chuckled. “Hey guys.”

“Uh, hi Beverly.” Eddie said, eyebrows knitted but a tentative smile on his face. Then his eyes focused on a spot above Bev’s shoulder and the smile turned more genuine. “Hi, Richie.”

“Hiya Eds.” Richie said, slightly breathless, either he was in terrible condition and chasing Beverly over there left him winded or he was even more gone for Eddie than Bev had thought. She felt Richie’s hands grab her shoulders and try to steer her away but she planted her feet and stayed right there.

“We wanted to ask you if you want to partner up with us for the frosting and decorating?” She said, ignoring the way Richie was tugging at her arm. 

Mike gave her a complicitive smile. Bev had suspected that he had noticed that both of their friends had been silently pining over each other and was proven right in that moment. “That’s fine by me. Eddie?”

Eddie wasn’t looking at Beverly, he was staring at Richie. Bev didn’t need to look at him to know that Richie was avoiding eye contact. Sometimes she really wanted to hit her best friend. There was his crush trying to get confirmation that Richie wanted to partner up with him and the idiot was probably staring at the floor. 

“It was Richie’s idea.” Bev said, and heard a sharp intake of breath behind her. “Right Rich?” 

The look that she gave him must have been enough to keep him from saying no. He smiled tentatively, running a hand through his curls and saying, “Yeah, totally. There’s no one I would rather share my frosting with.”

Did she say she wanted to hit Richie  _ sometimes _ ? More like all the fucking time. That idiot.

Mike snorted out a chuckle while Eddie stared wide eyed at Richie, a blush appearing on his cheeks and spreading all the way up to his ears. Bev could only imagine the mortified expression on her friend’s face. 

Eddie laughed nervously. “Uh, okay. Sure. We can work here if you want.” He said, pointing at their neatly organized table. Bev glanced back at the mess that was on their own table and nodded. 

“We’ll get our stuff.” She said, dragging Richie along with her. 

“I’m going to fucking kill you, Marsh.” Richie muttered, looking at Eddie and Mike talking amongst themselves over his shoulder. 

“You’re going to fucking thank me.” She said. “This is our last class and you’ve managed to talk to Eddie like five times in six damn weeks, which after what you just said to him might be a blessing but still, you deserve a chance to ask him out and I’m giving it to you.”

Richie was shaking his head even before she was done speaking. “I already told you I’m not-”

“Shut up. Grab these,” she handed him a box with their materials and grabbed the ingredients they would need herself. “Get over there and  _ talk to him _ . If you make a fool out of yourself well, at least is the last time you’ll see him.”

Not giving him a chance to argue she started walking towards the other table. Richie followed her, dragging his feet in resignation. Beverly considered that progress, at least he didn’t make a run for the door. 

“I was thinking we split up the work.” Mike said, once the four of them were gathered around the table. “Beverly and I will prepare the blend. Eddie, you and Richie can add the food colorings and fill the pastry bags with the different colors. Sound good? Perfect.”

Eddie and Richie nodded dumbly and Bev had to hide her smirk behind her hand. Clearly, Mike and her were in the same page when it came to their idiot friends. 

She measured the sugar while Mike did the same with the milk before adding both into a bowl and starting the mixer. Once the whirring sound started, Bev gave Mike a knowing look. “So, I take it I’m not the only one with a pining best friend, huh?”

Mike chuckled, looking at Richie and Eddie, who were silently preparing the pastry bags while stealing glances at each other. “It seems like it. It’s good to know that all this time I wasn’t alone in my suffering.”

“I doubt Eddie is as bad as Richie.” 

“You would be surprised.”

They traded embarrassing stories that would no doubt make Richie and Eddie kill them for sharing them. Beverly was right, Eddie had a crush on Richie and just like him, wasted their six weeks together on small conversations and stolen glances because he couldn’t bring himself to do more than that, no matter how much Mike tried to convince him. 

Once the first batch of frosting was ready, they gave it to Richie and Eddie for them to divide it and start coloring it. They kept talking, sometimes about their friends, sometimes about themselves, all the while listening to Richie and Eddie as they  _ finally  _ engaged in a conversation, even if it was about what colors of frosting they should prepare.

“Okay, we have red, green, white and yellow.” Eddie said, setting aside each bowl and adding a couple of drops of colorant. 

“We have blue and black and- yeah that’s it.” Richie said, doing the same with the food colorants Bev and him had bought. 

Eddie failed to hide his snort. “You were going to decorate all of your cookies with just those two colors? You can’t even make a Christmas tree cookie with those.”

“I could’ve! A black Christmas tree. Poor thing was burned to a crisp after someone went a little overboard with the lights.” Richie said, shrugging. 

Eddie let out a laugh, shaking his head. “Why do I feel you’re talking from experience?”

“Well, I did burn down a Christmas tree once.”

“Of course you did.”

“But it wasn’t the Christmas lights’ fault.” Richie said, diving into a further explanation when Eddie raised a questioning eyebrow. “Little seven year old Richie thought it was a good idea to decorate his Christmas tree with- wait for it _ - _ candles.”

“No!” Eddie gasped, his hand covering his mouth.

Richie nodded. “In my young self defense, it looked really pretty. Until it caught on fire and almost burned down our house. Pine trees are really fucking flammable, apparently.”

Eddie bursted into laughter so loud that some of their other classmates turned to look at him. He tried to muffle the sound by covering his mouth but it only caused him to giggle into his hand. 

Richie glared half heartedly at Eddie, but the corners of his mouth curled up in a smile. He had never heard Eddie giggle before, Bev could practically see his brain shutting down at the cute sound. “It’s not funny Eds, I could’ve died.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Eddie said, trying to supress the giggles. “You can have your black Christmas tree, I won’t judge.”

“Thank you.” Richie said, setting down the blue frosting and picking up the one with the black drops to start stirring it. “I want pink frosting too.”

“Pink? Is there another interesting story there?”

“No, I just like pink.” Richie said with a shrug.

“I’ve noticed.” Eddie said. His head whipped up fast staring at Richie with a panicked expression. “I mean- well. You wear a lot of pink, not that I’ve been staring at you or anything it’s just that I like pink too, so I notice when other people wear it and- did I hear a timer go off? I’m pretty sure I did. I should check on the cookie dough. Be right back.” He scurried away and Bev smirked at Richie who was holding the bowl in his hands, spoon suspended mid-air, frosting dripping from it and a confused, yet amused expression on his face. He noticed Bev staring at him knowingly and went back to stirring.

Mike and her rolled their eyes at the same time and picked up a few bowls of their own, adding orange, purple and brown to the list of colors of frosting they would have to decorate. Eddie returned shortly after, cookie dough in his hands and a blush in his cheeks. They split it into two before Bev and Eddie rolled it over the previously floured surface while Mike and Richie gathered the cookie cutters. 

Then, the four of them started cutting up the cookies and placing them on the baking sheets. 

“Hey, Rich.” Bev said, bumping her hip against Richie’s. They were standing next to each other on one side of the table, with Mike and Eddie working on their own cookies across from them. “That’s a lot of mistletoe cookies you have there. Are you planning on using it on someone?”

Bev saw Mike’s shoulders shake with silent laughter while Eddie’s tensed up as he studied Richie’s reaction closely. Richie stepped on her toe before sending a mocking smile her way. “Yes, on your mom.”

She rolled her eyes before glaring at him.  _ I’m trying to help you, you moron  _ was the message she was trying to convey, but Richie had already turned his attention back to his cookies. 

They put them all in the pre heated oven and Mike kept an eye on them while they were there.

Bev made herself busy tidying up the table, freeing space for the most awaited part- the decorating. She was surprised (and proud of Richie) when he asked Eddie an actual question.

“So, Eds. What are you doing on Christmas?” He said. “You going back home?”

“Uh, no. My mother’s not big on Christmas. I’m staying here.”

“And here I thought all those cookies were for her.” Richie said. Beverly let out a sigh of relief when he didn’t make one of his usual mom jokes. “Uh, anyone special that you’re planning on sharing them with?”

Eddie shook his head. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

Eddie shrugged, playing with the cookie cutters not looking at Richie. “Are you going home for Christmas and do you have- you know, anyone to share your cookies with?” 

Richie snorted out a laugh, but answered in a serious tone. “I’m staying here but mom and dad are coming to visit on Christmas Eve, we’re grabbing dinner.” Richie explained and Bev had to smile at her friend’s excitement over seeing his parents. “As for the other question, nope. No one to share my cookies with.”

Richie winked and Eddie blushed but smiled at him, pleased with the answer. Beverly wanted to hit them both with the rolling pin she was currently holding. This dancing around each other was painful to watch. 

Mike brought the cookies to the table once they had cooled down and they started decorating. Bev was having so much fun making multi-colored snowflakes, black-bearded santa claus cookies and murderous snowmen (much to Mike’s amusement) that she forgot about Richie and Eddie for a while, but it was hard to ignore their interactions when they were being so sickeningly oblivious right in front of her. 

“What is  _ that _ supposed to be?

“It’s a snowman Eds.” 

“It’s yellow.” Eddie said, shaking his head. Just like Beverly’s cookies, Richie’s were quite creative. “Why is it yellow?”

Richie opened his mouth to answer but Eddie stopped him, finger pressing against Richie’s lips. “You know what? I don’t wanna know.” 

Richie smiled and it was until he glanced down that Eddie noticed that he hadn’t moved his hand from Richie’s mouth. He moved his hand back and blushed again before going back to his beautifully decorated candy cane cookie.

At some point, Eddie touched his face with his hand, ending up with red frosting on his left cheek. Richie stared at him every minute or so and he noticed. 

“Eds you have a bit of- here.” He used his thumb to wipe it off before putting his finger in his mouth. Eddie stared wide eyed at him and Richie spluttered out an apology, his blush matching Eddie’s.

Bev groaned internally, dropping her head on Mike’s shoulder. “I’m  _ this  _ close to putting my head in the oven so I don’t have to see this anymore.”

“Save some space for me, yeah?”

They finish decorating and the four of them talked while the frosting dried off. There were a couple of moments in which Bev had to resist the urge to push Richie and Eddie’s faces together in a kiss (at one point, when Eddie mentioned that he had  _ zero _ plans for the days before Christmas while staring at Richie intently and her friend did absolutely  _ nothing  _ about it, Mike had to stop her from throwing a measuring cup at Richie’s head). 

She actually considered holding one of Richie’s many mistletoe cookies over their stubborn self-dubious heads and demand they honor the tradition and kiss under it, even if instead of the usual ornament it was a cookie. The rules should still apply. 

At least, Richie and Bev talked and got to know Eddie and Mike enough so that there was a chance that they would see each other even if their classes finished that day. 

Bev considered that to be a silver lining. If neither Richie nor Eddie ended up asking the other on a date today at least there was a chance (even if it was slim) that they would do it later.

Finally the cookies were ready. Each of them chose the ones they would be taking home. Bev gave Eddie and Mike a star-shaped cookie with an E and an M outlined delicately with red frosting. They gave them some of their cookies too, they were cute and looked like they belonged in the front page of a cookbook. 

Maybe her plan didn’t work out but at least she got to talk more to the two of them. 

They picked up their things, cleaned up the table and said goodbye to Clara, thanking her for everything she taught them. In Bev and Richie’s case, they also thanked her for not kicking them out of the class after they set the fire alarm off with their burnt apple pie during their first class.

Next they said their goodbyes. Beverly’s plan may not have worked out but at least she found two new friends.

With one last longing glance at each other, Richie and Eddie as well as Mike and Bev parted, walking down opposite hallways. 

They had just started walking when Beverly punched Richie.  _ Hard _ .

“Ow! What the fuck was that for?”

“You’re an idiot.” She said simply.

Richie rubbed at his arm, glaring at Beverly. He opened his bag of cookies to start eating away his feelings before letting out a screech.

“What? What is it?” Bev asked alarmed.

Richie shoved a cookie into her face. It was a plain rectangle, cut out with a knife and not one of the cookie cutters. It was decorated with pink frosting and with it was spelled a simple message,

_ Date me? _

_ -E  _

There was also a heart.

Bev let out a screech of her own.

“I have to find him!” Richie said.

“Yes!” Bev said but Richie stayed put. “Go! Eddie has short legs, he couldn’t have gotten far!”

Richie nodded and took off in the direction Eddie had gone. Bev followed behind him.

His legs gave him the slightest advantage and she was just around the corner when she heard Richie yell. “Eds, wait! Yes!”

Bev chuckled and she rounded the corner just in time to see Richie cradling Eddie’s face and leaning down enough to catch his lips in a kiss in the middle of the crowded hall.

From behind them, Mike smirked at Bev and she smirked back. 

Her job here was done and the best part? She had the satisfaction of being able to constantly remind Richie from then on that she was responsible for all of this.

Merry Christmas indeed. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, leave a comment or come talk to me on tumblr [jem-castairs-is-perfection](http://jem-carstairs-is-perfection.tumblr.com/)


End file.
